International Top of the Chart: Shrek Scores a Win

July 21st, 2010

Shrek Forever After rose to top spot for the first time during its international run with $56.38 million on 7,572 screens in 44 markets for a total of $297.92 million over the weekend and $532.31 million worldwide.
Unless the film cost an irresponsibly huge amount to market, it is well on its way to showing a profit before it reaches the lucrative home market.
In fact, depending on how much it cost to market and how large a share the studio is getting from the box office, it might have already broken even.

Its biggest opening of the weekend came in Mexico, where it placed first with $8.65 million on 1,110 screens; this was a little behind Shrek the Third, but by less than 10%, which is better than a lot of markets have managed.
As far as holdovers go, it was down just 9% in the U.K. to $6.43 million on 528 screens over the weekend for a total of $37.36 million after three.
It was up 20% in Germany to $3.44 million on 769 screens over the weekend for a total of $15.27 million, also after three.
It rose 7% in Spain to $4.53 million on 761 screens over the weekend and $12.58 million after two.

Long legs are certainly helping the film recover from a slower than expected start.
It's clearly the weakest film in the franchise as far as ticket sales go, but it is still a victory for the studio.